Watch: Moment toddler tries to stop savage attack on mother

Police are hunting for a woman filmed savagely attacking a mother as the victim’s young child begged her to stop.

A woman, identified as 25-year-old Latia Harris, can be seen approaching the 27-year-old victim on a path in Salem, Massachusetts and knocking her to the ground, before kneeling over her and raining down punches.

The victim’s two-year-old son can be heard crying and screaming ‘mummy’ as he desperately aims kicks at the attacker, begging her to stop.

Harris threatened to kick the victim’s young son (Picture: bigEcod/LiveLeak)

The attacker gets to her feet and football-kicks the victim in the back before saying:

‘You better get yourself up before I kick him [the toddler] in the f**ing face too.’

Salem Chief of Police John J. Pelura III said on Wednesday that the woman, who works at McDonald’s, accused the victim of ‘spreading rumours about her and her manager.’

‘Police in this county deal with this type of violence everyday,’ he said.

‘Yet, this video is physically sickening to watch.’

Pelura added that the attack, which happened at about 7pm on Tuesday, was made more tragic by the fact that bystanders watched and recorded the incident but did nothing to stop it.

‘There is a moral and social breakdown in the fabric of our society,’ he said.